Where should we be in 3-5 years with Technology? What tools should be available to teachers and students? Software? Hardware? What infrastructure will we need? What will classrooms need in order to best reach their students? How should staffing change to accommodate this?
Think and dream BIG!
Dr. Mark Hines Blogorama
Exploring issues in 21st Century Learning, Transforming Education, EdTech, and my PostDoc Work at University of Hawaii
Mark —
I think it would be very useful to have a Smartboard in some of the computer labs, like the Library lab. That way teachers who don’t have one in their rooms could occasionally use it.
It would also be useful in the Weinberg Seminar room, which is a good place for students to give PowerPoint or other online presentations.
The Smartboard would let teachers or students use the touchscreen feature when giving presentations, so they could stay at the front of the room.
I saw this interesting video on google video last night – thought it would be interesting to add to the mix about the future…
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~pesti/roadmap/
Came across this info by accident. Someone called me to follow-up on a request that I don’t recall making… She wanted to see if I found this page:
http://www.emc.com/about/destination/digital_universe/
Quite interesting and definitely something to plan for.
I can’t really speak for my peers and such, but I have plans of where I would like my orchestra program to be with technology in 3-5 years. For the most part, I think I would like an LCD projector/screen or a smart board in my room. I think some kind of sound system would be nice too. I think music students should also have access to composition programs such as Sibelius or Finale so they can create their own works if they wanted to. These programs should also be connected to MIDI keyboards for easier note entry. Lastly, I would love to have a number of electronic violins, violas, cellos, and basses with amps. The technology for such instruments have come a long way in the past 10 years and these instruments are now relatively affordable. We would also be the only “electronic orchestra” on the island!
Will we ever have small laptops for students for: in class note taking, essay writing, etc. Assets has some that are strictly word processing, so no memory/cheating issues.
AND – get rid of the heavy books, with books on CDs. Reality or fantasy?
We need to have a calendar for scheduling activities during school time such as long homeroom. There have been overlaps twice recently. 1) A meeting was called during long HR in which Mrs. Carter was to pass out info about applying for colleges. Then some students were scheduled to have pictures taken for HOSS elections (without informing the HR teachers). 2) A presentation by Josten’s was scheduled for seniors. When I went to put in attendance, I found several students marked absent because they were supposed to have gone to another activity (again, something about which the HR teachers had not been informed).
I see this calendar as working like the HS Test calendar on
Edline so that people could post their own activity instead of having it go through a person or committee. Teachers should not have to look at this, just the people organizing the activities. It could be on a first-come-first-served basis or prioritized by importance.
It is true however, that people organizing activities during long HR should inform the HR teachers of those students affected.